1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a floor mat for use on a floor of an automobile and more particularly to a floor mat with a non-slidable bottom surface so that it does not slide about the floor thereof during use.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the prior art there have been a number of floor mats for automobiles, but all of these floor mats have a tendency to slide about the floor of an automobile under the pressure of the foot of the driver. This sliding is not only inconvenient to the driver, but may also be dangerous to him. There have been many attempts to solve this problem of the floor mat sliding about the floor of the automobile, but none of the previous solutions has been adequate. A further limitation that the floor mats must be relatively light in weight in order to conserve fuels compounds the difficulty of finding a solution to this problem.
The problems of a floor mat sliding about the floor is not limited to their use in an automobile. This problem occurs with throw rugs in the home. The use of a velcro-type fastening system on the bottom of the floor mat and the floor is an apparent solution. The difficulty with the use of a velcro-type fastening system is that it provides too much fastening capabilities and makes it difficult to remove the floor mats or the throw rugs from the floor in order to clean them.
Among the floor mats of the prior art is a floor mat having base which is formed out of compounded tire rubber. The floor mat has a raised design which may be a series of longitudinally disposed ribs that form grooves for collecting dirt and providing drainage. The floor mat has a plurality of bristles which are electrostatically flocked onto the top surface of the base and permanently bonded thereto adjacent the raised design.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,908,027, entitled Floor Mat, issued to Eugene F. McClung on Oct. 13, 1959, teaches a floor mat which includes a flexible rubber base and a plurality of rubber fabric strips which are mounted in spaced relation on the base and joined thereto. The base is formed with a round-bottom grooves between the strips. The strips are arranged with upwardly extending fibrous cords which are embedded therein. Each strip has an attrite upper surface with ends of fibrous cords extending vertically from the attrite surface and projecting upward from the edges of the attrite surface to fluff over and form flocculent mat surfaces of greater width than the width of the strips.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,901,373, entitled Pattern Flock Fabric and Method for Producing Said Pattern, issued to Ernst Weiss on Aug. 25, 1959, teaches a method for producing a pattern flock fabric for use on a floor mat. U.S. Pat. No. 3,591,401, entitled Flocked, Foamed, Embossed Surface Covering, issued to Robert W. Snyder on July 6, 1971, teaches a method of flocking, foaming and embossing a floor mat. U.S. Pat. No. 4,362,773, entitled Flocked Foamed with Embossed Pattern, issued to Yasuo Shikinami on Dec. 7, 1982, teaches a flocked foam which has an embossed pattern. U.S. Pat. No. 4,018,956, entitled Method of Making a Differentially Shrunk Flocked Fabric Product, issued to James P. Casey on Apr. 19, 1977, teaches a pattern which is printed with adhesive as a design on certain selected areas of a shrinkable substrate and the adhesive is dried. Flock is preferably applied to the design in the selected areas before the adhesive has dried.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,415,618, entitled Non-Slidable Bottom Surface Layer for a Floor Covering, issued to Eugene F. McClung, Jr. on Nov. 15, 1983, teaches a non-slidable bottom surface layer of a floor mat which includes a base with a top surface and a bottom surface. The top surface is mechanically coupled to the base of the floor covering. The base also includes a plurality of bristles which are electrostatically flocked onto its bottom surface and permanently bonded thereto. The plurality of bristles can lock into a carpet covering a floor and prevent lateral sliding of the floor mat when the foot of a driver produces downward and lateral forces on the floor mat. The base may be formed out of compounded tire rubber. The top surface has a raised design for collecting and providing drainage.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,583,890, entitled Underlay for Rugs or Mats to be Placed on a Carpet with a Deep Pile, issued to Claus Kolckmann and Kreis Schwaebisch on June 8, 1971, teaches an underlay for placing a mat and a deep-pile carpet which includes a flexible lattice structure of threads, a non-slip coating on one side of the lattice structure and a textile fiber flock on the other side of the lattice structure. The flock is arranged around the threads of the lattice structure and radically aligned so as to point to the center of the individual threads.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,605,166, entitled Floor Mat Construction, issued to John W. Chen on Sept. 20, 1974, teaches a floor mat construction which is especially suited for use in automobiles. Each floor mat includes a tray, a grate and fastening devices for removably securing the grate in a desired position over the tray. The tray is formed with internal partitions which define a plurality of open top compartments that are formed to hold mud, water and the like in a fixed area against splashing. A grating is formed to fit over the tray and to completely cover the partitions therein. The grate is formed with tapered sides and terminates in knife-like upper edges. The whole floor mat construction is preferably formed of a tough, light resilient material such as rubber of rubber compositions. The grating provides a larger number of smaller openings than the number of compartments which are preferably of the same shape.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,654,657, entitled Foot Mat for Vehicles, issued to Otto Hubel on Apr. 11, 1974, teaches a floor mat of elastomeric material for use in an automobile. The floor mat has honey-comb or alveolar cells in a slanting or inclined arrangement with respect to the base of the foot mat with the cross section of each of the cells increasing from the bottom upwardly towards its upper open end.